


A Slighty Faulty Basil

by alephdara



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gardening, Gen, a very tasty plant, basil is a plant, food growing, i'd love some pesto right now, migrogravity gardening ain't easy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25364965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alephdara/pseuds/alephdara
Summary: Three crewmates aboard a ship worry about their basil plant.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	A Slighty Faulty Basil

"The basil's looking a bit sad."

MT gingerly touched the droopy leaves, as if trying to cheer them up by willpower alone. They knew it needed more than that, but fucked if they knew what. The damned plant seemed to thrive on its carers' despair.

"You sure the settings are okay?" Jorge came around the corner, grabbing the railings as if they were on the float. You quickly learned not to trust gravity when it changed at the whim of the pilot. Specially when Jorge was the pilot. "Last week's bust fucked up a lot of things."

"I readjusted them myself. UV/IR ratio, nutrient solution, soil pH, the whole set. I even played it music!" they whined towards the plant, not daring to face their crewmate in case the offending plant decided to die when it wasn't being looked at.

A chirpy voice came from the depths of the greenroom, echoing in the metallic plates of the narrow enclosure, their little bubble against the vacuum. "Talking to the plants again?" The slim owner's head peeked among the peppers, noticing Jorge's presence. "Oh, you're here. Good to know MT is not losing it. I feared for their sanity when they started to dance around the sprouts to the Rolling Stones. I mean, nothing against the classics, but..." She looked at the crouching techie. "Hey, at least the tomatoes are looking good."

MT ran a slender hand through their hair, frustrated. "That's just because they barely have any height, Kim, you should know that. If they had full fruit, we'd had tomato paste for dinner on account of the g-forces from last week."

"Don't remind me", quipped Jorge, rolling his elbows and rubbing his neck. "I'm pretty sure I sprained a shoulder"

"You can't sprain joints" laughed Kim, backing up from Jorge's glare. "But yeah, I felt that, too."

MT wasn't paying attention to their banter. "I really was looking forward to that pesto."

That shutted them up. The three of them looked wistfully at the plant, longing clear upon their faces. There was something about naturally grown food that you didn't get in any of the protein packages they bought at the fuel stations. Not even the expensive ones from Ceres or Ganymede, when they could afford them, or the ones that boasted "With Real-Earth Nutrients!" in the label. Everyone knew that those barely had any fraction of the real stuff in them. Just dirt and fake sugar.

Almost at the same time, their faces hardened. A decided puff came out of Jorge's nostrils as he stood up.

"I'll pull the thrusters up a notch. I'm sure we can handle a uptick in gravity while the soil drains. Might be an excess of water."

"I'll root the supplies deck. Maybe I can find some sterile soil to add to this one's. And some fungicidal stuff, if we're lucky" Kim danced away.

MT was left alone, facing the basil with a hopeful look.

"Did you listen, sweetie? Everyone loves you, and we'll do everything to get you happy again. Now don't die while mommy readjusts the lighting patterns, okay?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to hanap for giving me a nudge to write again!
> 
> A wink to all Cleese and Python fans!


End file.
